AVIC International partners with the Ministry of Education in Kenya to empower the youth with practical skills

From left: Mrs. Hilda Omwoyo, the Principal Kenya Technical Trainers College,  Jin Yetao, Avic International TVET Director, Dr. Desai, Ministry of Education Principal, Ministry of Education, State Department TVET, Lynette Mwende, Policy and Advocacy Manager, AVIC International and Prof. Eric Ogur, Technical University of Kenya 

AVIC International in partnership with the Ministry of Education last week announced the launch of the Africa Tech Challenge, Season 5.

The challenge aims to empower the youth in technical training institutions with practical skills and the winners (top two teams) will be awarded a manufacturing contract worth KES 10,000,000 (US$=100,000) AVIC International will empower the participants by providing technical training in CNC Lathe Machining techniques and Mechatronics Engineering for a period of 45 days at the Technical University of Kenya and Kenya Technical Trainers College respectively.

In line with Kenya’s BigFour Agenda, this supports the nation’s goal of ensuring Kenya has readily available skilled labor to steer the Manufacturing sector forward.

Hosted under the Ministry of Education in Kenya, the Africa Tech Challenge (ATC) is working with various educational institutions in Africa to increase and develop professional skills. This initiative will train 27 teams that will see at least 108 young men and women across the continent get specialized expertise. 

“Our company has successfully held four ATC professional skills contests through a specialised process, where we train on current and future required skills. Our aim is to promote development of professional skills education in Africa, adapt to International standards, and connect with the world’s highest-level of professional skills,” said Mr. Jin Yetao, TVET Director from AVIC International Holding Corporation in Kenya.

“ATC’s Strategy is informed by most African states Vision of transforming their nations into Industrializing economies.” Training is at the core of the challenge and we kick off with training a total of twenty seven teams, whereby twenty three local teams from technical training institutions in various parts of Kenya. In addition to this, we have four International teams from technical institutions from Ghana, Zambia, Cote d’Ivoire and Gabon who will participate, making this challenge truly an African contest”. Mr. Jin Yetao added.

Commenting on the partnership, Dr. Kevit Desai, Principal Secretary from the Ministry of Education’s State Department of TVET said: “Under the Technical, Vocational and Education Training (TVET), it is our mandate as a Ministry to ensure provision of the right skills and competencies for national development. We are proud to partner with Africa Tech Challenge as it supports the ministry to offer young people an opportunity to get equipped with relevant and quality skills to meet the needs of the labour market.”

There is a novelty in this season’s competition: The youth will not only get rewarded with cash prizes, but the top two winning teams get a manufacturing contract worth KES 10,000,000 (US$=100,000). In addition, the three most outstanding participants will be awarded with Scholarships to go and study in China so as to specialize in their skills and gain more knowledge and technical expertise.

Africa Tech Challenge (ATC) is therefore a skills-based initiative that began as a result of identifying the skills gap in most African states’ education sector and it responds to the need  for youth being empowered so as to drive the industrial revolution in the continent.

ATC also provides support as a TVET partner to the Ministry of Education so as to create sustainability and longevity in this project. The challenge has had 4 successful seasons since its inception in June 2014. It is a youth empowerment program that seeks to equip the youth with technical skills, in the form of a training then a competition whereby all ATC Participants receive certificates to show participation plus outline the skills gained during training which allows them to access internship/ attachment and job opportunities more easily.